Homegrown

House Committee on Homeland Security chair, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, released this statement on the attack yesterday in Ottawa, Canada:

“The attack in Ottawa is yet another reminder that homegrown terrorism is a real threat not only to our country but to our allies as well. Whether these individuals train in Syria or Iraq and then return home, or are inspired and recruited over the internet while in their basements, their danger to society is the same. The United States must wage a robust effort here at home to combat violent Islamist extremism by working with local communities to intervene when we see signs of it, fighting against online Islamist propaganda, and providing ways to stop individuals lured into the ‘jihadi cool’ subculture before they act. My prayers go out to the family of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, and to our friends in Canada who were affected by yesterday’s shooting.”

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, said tonight that Americans fighting for the Islamic State in Syria are "entitled to come back" because they hold American citizenship:

Comey estimated that a dozen Americans are fighting for the Islamic State in Syria. And he believes he knows

"How many Americans are fighting in Syria on the side of the terrorists?" asked 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley.

"Four Southern California men have been charged with plotting to kill Americans and destroy U.S. targets overseas by joining al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, federal officials said Monday," reports the AP.

Today, after deliberating for less than ten hours, a federal jury found Tarek Mehanna guilty of the most serious charges leveled by federal prosecutors against him, including providing material support to terrorists, conspiring to kill in a foreign country, and lying to counterterrorism officials. He faces a possible life sentence.

“These are not Muslim-bashing hearings,” Abdirizak Bihi, the uncle of a radicalized Muslim teenager, said to reporters immediately after testifying at this morning’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing. But according to some Democrats, the hearing was an act of discrimination against Muslims and a danger to national security and civil rights.

It is not always bad to be offensive. And offending terrorists, for instance, strikes me as a pretty good example. But this point seems lost in our politically correct culture -- and it seems especially lost on New York Times columnists.

Zachary A. Chesser wanted to embody the most extreme form of Islam.

Last Thursday, July 22, 20-year-old Zachary A. Chesser of Fairfax County, Va., was arrested for providing material support to, and attempting to join, the Somali Islamist militia affiliated with al Qaeda, al-Shabab. Chesser has been ordered to remain in jail until his trial.